Okay, so I'm about to go into year 9, where we start to prepare for our GCSEs. When my dad was at school, he did Ancient Greek, Latin and Classics. (He's 59, was in high school in the 1960's) Over the last few days, I've been reading a book on Ancient Greek and I know the alphabet and the basic pronounciation. I really really REALLY like the subject, and I want to do an Ancient Greek/ Classical Greek GCSE.

However, my school doesn't teach us Ancient Greek, so if I did I would either have to get a tutor or teach myself. My family doesn't have a lot of money so we wouldn't be able to afford a tutor, so I would have to kind of learn myself with some help from my dad.

Do you think I would be able to do an Ancient Greek GCSE? Should I do Ancient Greek or Classical Greek? And if I get a low grade in it is it better than not doing the exam at all?

(P.S. My teachers say that in most academic subjects at GCSE I'd be getting roughly A* so I'm fairly intelligent.

(Original post by Annie Cresta)
Okay, so I'm about to go into year 9, where we start to prepare for our GCSEs. When my dad was at school, he did Ancient Greek, Latin and Classics. (He's 59, was in high school in the 1960's) Over the last few days, I've been reading a book on Ancient Greek and I know the alphabet and the basic pronounciation. I really really REALLY like the subject, and I want to do an Ancient Greek/ Classical Greek GCSE.

However, my school doesn't teach us Ancient Greek, so if I did I would either have to get a tutor or teach myself. My family doesn't have a lot of money so we wouldn't be able to afford a tutor, so I would have to kind of learn myself with some help from my dad.

Do you think I would be able to do an Ancient Greek GCSE? Should I do Ancient Greek or Classical Greek? And if I get a low grade in it is it better than not doing the exam at all?

(P.S. My teachers say that in most academic subjects at GCSE I'd be getting roughly A* so I'm fairly intelligent.

Hi,
First of all great choice to take Greek. I'm currently studying for a degree in classics and I can tell you that it's a fun subject. With regards to learning Greek, I used John Taylor's Greek to GCSE parts one and two. It may not look pretty and occasionally it can be a bit convoluted, but it's a fairly good book for learning GCSE Classical Greek. You will also need to learn two set texts - a prose text and a verse text - for the exam and this will involve preparation of those passages and translation of them. This does take time and in a class, you would normally spend at least a year of your two year GCSE course translating the two passages, exploring themes within them etc. It is doable, but I would look at the syllabus first about the texts and then start reading the John Taylor books. After that, I would use Perseus to get the Greek texts and start translating them.

If you have any questions, just ask, but I agree with the above poster. Also if it starts to impact on your other GCSEs, then you should focus on them and look at dropping GCSE Greek. Some people take it during their AS level year so there's no rush, but as I say, if you have any questions, just ask!

With regards to learning Greek, I used John Taylor's Greek to GCSE parts one and two. It may not look pretty and occasionally it can be a bit convoluted, but it's a fairly good book for learning GCSE Classical Greek. You will also need to learn two set texts - a prose text and a verse text - for the exam and this will involve preparation of those passages and translation of them. This does take time and in a class, you would normally spend at least a year of your two year GCSE course translating the two passages, exploring themes within them etc. It is doable, but I would look at the syllabus first about the texts and then start reading the John Taylor books. After that, I would use Perseus to get the Greek texts and start translating them.

Thank you!!! At the moment I've started with Peter Jones- Learn Ancient Greek

(Original post by Annie Cresta)
With regards to learning Greek, I used John Taylor's Greek to GCSE parts one and two. It may not look pretty and occasionally it can be a bit convoluted, but it's a fairly good book for learning GCSE Classical Greek. You will also need to learn two set texts - a prose text and a verse text - for the exam and this will involve preparation of those passages and translation of them. This does take time and in a class, you would normally spend at least a year of your two year GCSE course translating the two passages, exploring themes within them etc. It is doable, but I would look at the syllabus first about the texts and then start reading the John Taylor books. After that, I would use Perseus to get the Greek texts and start translating them.

Thank you!!! At the moment I've started with Peter Jones- Learn Ancient Greek

(Original post by Annie Cresta)
Yeah, that last message I sent was supposed to be a reply to you. Think I did it wrong...

Don't worry about it. I've not used that book, but if you're happy with it, then use it. As I say, if you have any questions, just ask. I can say though that it is a great language.

I took GCSE Classical Greek after studying it after school for about two years with my Latin teacher. It's definitely achievable so long as you're willing to work hard. I found that the Language papers were fairly straightforward to study for independently, I used John Taylor's books and also printed off vocabulary lists from the OCR website. The Literature papers I would have found quite hard without my teacher's help, though, as I'm not sure I would have found the translations manageable. However, once you have the translation, it's really just a case of learning it by heart and getting used to the style of question-a bit like English Lit! It was definitely interesting; I'd recommend it if you can find a good resource for translating the prose and verse texts.

I would say go for it! John Taylor's books are very good even though they are a little plain but the grammar is explained very well which is what you need mainly for the language papers. I promise you it is fascinating as a subject, however for the set texts, I would think that is incredibly difficult to do alone purely because of the extensive knowledge needed of the text which you do not necessarily get from the translation, having said that it is totally possible to get a good grade just by learning the texts off by heart so I would go for it!

I'm in year 10 and I took two of the OCR Classical Greek modules this Summer. I honestly spent a lot of my year worrying. I, like you, have been predicted A* in my 11 other subjects, so that is why I decided to take Greek, which was done as an after school club. Despite doing only 1.5 hours a week I managed to get an A in both modules. If you are determined (there is a TONNE of vocab to learn) I think you should really go for it! I also do Latin and they are both extremely interesting and you will gain a lot in doing this subject! I hope this helps you a little bit. x

I did ancient Greek gcse for about 18 months and sadly never took the exams thought we finished most of te course content. I was lucky enough to have two excellent teachers, a married couple actually, who had already taught me Latin gcse. I love learning another alphabet and love languages in general but tbh it's really really tough. I'm good at languages and I found it incredibly tough and so did the other two girls in my group, both of whom got all A's and A*'s at a level. If you get the opportunity to learn it, do it! I regret not taking the exams in the end. However it is nothing like latin- the grammar is completely different and an excellent, committed teacher is crucial. Good luck!